If you are considering setting up a marketing system through Synergetic Marketing Sales and becoming a member of one of their vanity numbers, think twice. Jim K does not honor his guarantee. Or, he has it set up so that you will never see your refund as promised. How many of you Synergetic "Members" out there has sent every piece of advertising, along with pictures and signs of every truck or sign that you produced with your vanity # to them within 14 days of implementation. Anyway, you are stuck for 2 years if you are not happy with their marketing schemes. And, they have no obligation to actually help you develop your "brand". You can advertise any number and get the phone to ring. You don't need a 1-800-vanity number and their membership fee is very expensive. Feel free to email me at rickl@mrwlawns.com if you would like more information.

rickl27928

02-12-2010, 04:13 PM

In hindsight, I would like to retract a statement that I made in the above thread. The statement that Synergetic Marketing Sales does not honor their contract is inaccurate. It is true that we did not follow one stipulation, and that was to send every piece of marketing that we produced under our 1-800 CURBAPPEAL brand. Therefore, I will admit we were in violation of our contract. However, that does not change the fact that in our opinion, their service is expensive not very good. ;)

Steve

02-13-2010, 05:44 AM

Rick,

Can you give us a little information about what lead up to this?

We have discussed such services in the past, talking about the pros and cons.

What got you interested in doing this and why did you choose it?

What were you looking to get out of it?

and that was to send every piece of marketing that we produced under our 1-800 CURBAPPEAL brand.

So contractually you were obligated to include their brand with every outgoing piece of marketing material you sent out?

rickl27928

02-13-2010, 09:23 AM

Steve,
I just want to let people know that they need to be careful when they enter into a contract with a marketing company. Read your contract carefully and do not enter into any contract unless you understand your obligations, the marketing company's obligation, and exactly what your expectations are about the results you are going to get. Also, make sure that their ideas match the business ethics you have set for your company. That will not necessarily come out in the initial consult. If you are not careful at the beginning, you will find yourself spending a bunch of money with no recourse to stop the bleeding.

We chose 1-800-CURBAPPEAL because that is what they had available. WRONG! The vanity # should be chosen to match the company and it's personality. You should not have to revamp your entire marketing strategy to fit the vanity #. We are a lawn care company. While the argument could be made, this fits a hardscaper or home improvement contractor more than it fits us. Now, we were very excited at the beginning and we spent gobs of money putting the vanity # on everything. Trucks, mailers, signs, invoices, statements, webpage and web advertising, even radio advertising. It was not long that we noticed that the only calls we were getting on the vanity # were customers with billing or service questions. It stands to reason, if you advertise a phone #, people will call it. People call whatever number is most convenient. Because that was the number on invoices and statements that was the number they would call. We also found out that new customers were not getting the number off of the trucks. Rather, they were approaching the technicians and getting a business card to call, because they wanted to meet and interview, even if just for a moment, the person doing the work. In my opinion, you can advertise any number and you will get the phone to ring.

There is a lot more to this story, but the bottom line is, this marketing did not work for us, and when we approached the company about our concerns, their approach was to try to prove that the system was working with no offer to help us adjust the strategy to make it work for us. Just be careful what you do and make sure you know the people you are dealing with.

Leon

02-15-2010, 10:14 PM

I had a meeting with the same company about a few months ago. We had a great talk, but in the long run I could not come to grib with paying $200 a month for a phone number. They had a great sales pitch by the time you finish talking with the rep you was runing for your check book. I had to stop and think, I said to myself why pay them I can do the samething for pennies on the dollar. My vanity # cost me under $10per month.

ProCut TM

02-15-2010, 10:32 PM

My vanity # cost me under $10per month.

Leon, please share how you accomplished this

I've thought about an 800# but I don't even have a home phone I use the cell for everything.

Leon

02-16-2010, 12:08 AM

I was just onlineand I googled vanity #. You will get a ton of info. I checked out a lot of them, but the best one to fit my needs is call freedom voice. I must say best $10bucks I have sent. I GO TO (This is my call to action:) )
www.freedomvoice.com My number cost $30 to get it becauses it's a vanity number. What so great about it is that you can have 5 voicemail boxes. you can let the customer think you are a big company. You can route the voicemails to you cell phone. Just say you call me the call will come right to my cell phone or office or home you get the picture. I can even tranfer the call to someone else and the customer will never know that we are not in the same place/state. When someone calls the number you get the call right on you cell with a special # so you know that it is a customer not a friend or family. Also you well get a text and a email. on the email you can play the message. It's great. Just to let you know 9.95 you get 100 free min every month, but they round it up by 6sec not mins. So if a customers call and talk you 15sec they round it to 18sec, not the full 1min. so they don't cheat you at all. Check them out and watch the demo it's about 30sec. hope this helps

Can You Envision The Possibilities... We Can!

Steve

02-16-2010, 06:24 AM

I had a meeting with the same company about a few months ago. We had a great talk, but in the long run I could not come to grib with paying $200 a month for a phone number.

So ultimately was it the monthly fee that turned you off?

When you were considering this, what were the pros and cons in your head about using such a service?

Leon

02-16-2010, 11:06 PM

Yes It was the monthly fees was a big part. The other is that I would be sharing that number. How this service works you buy a zip code I if I wanted to market in more that one zip code I had to pay, other wise my marketing dollars go you who has that zip. so if you see company (a) driving down the road an you want to hire them, when you call the # on their truck you might get compant (B) because you live in their zip. Pros you ge tthe promise of growing your company fast, and you can say you have a 1800 #, an they can design your estimates, flyers,etc, but you still pay to have them printed.

Steve

02-17-2010, 09:08 AM

How did you get the idea to initially want to use such a service? Did you know someone else that did it or did you just research it on your own?

Leon

02-17-2010, 09:46 PM

while I was on my job I saw a lawn service with the number 1800 lawn cut so I called, it also had the same website. When I when to the web they had a demo. after watching I enteredmy info and a rep soon called me

rickl27928

02-18-2010, 09:00 AM

Actually, Synergetic Marketing Sales was much better. Your service charged you $10 per zip code. But, if you are like us, you service 60 zip codes. Synergetic would give you the area exclusively so there can't be two with the number in the same area. We subscribed to all 5 of our counties. This also entitled us to discounted service for setting up mailers and marketing pieces. Our problem was that we did not feel that they followed through with us. And, I still don't think you need a vanity # to "brand" your services and market your brand. It's just another gimick. I also think that, being the professionals, they should have guided us better in choosing a number that fit us. Also, I don't think we got the support that the 1-800-LAWNCARE or 1-800-PESTCONTROL subscribers did. Also, I felt the support through the web site was poor. Lots of also's.

Leon

02-19-2010, 08:26 PM

I am not saying Synergetic Marketing Sales wasn't better. However what do you really get beside a big bill? The service that I have I only pay 9.95 per month and it's not per zip. Synergetic is per zip. Has your company grown while using their service? Do you think that it was a good investment?

The Cleaning Doctor

02-21-2010, 07:38 PM

Say you wanted purchase a service like this. What do you all feel is a fair price to pay? How about a lower bill during the off season months? Good vanity numbers are getting harder to locate and acquire at a reasonable price.

I am trying to locate such a service but I would like to hear some opinions on what you think the worth is? What other things should I look for as far as added services / advertising?

Steve

02-22-2010, 07:52 AM

In the bigger picture, who really cares about a vanity number though? Off the top of your head, how many vanity numbers stand out for products or services you like?

How important are vanity numbers now when instead you can put a web address on your vehicle that is memorable?

The Cleaning Doctor

02-22-2010, 10:51 AM

The reason that I am looking into this is that over half of my customers live in the real world and not in the online world. Only the younger generation uses the web that I find and they usually do not have the same amounts disposable income.

rickl27928

02-23-2010, 07:35 AM

I am not saying Synergetic Marketing Sales wasn't better. However what do you really get beside a big bill? The service that I have I only pay 9.95 per month and it's not per zip. Synergetic is per zip. Has your company grown while using their service? Do you think that it was a good investment?

Leon, Exactly my point. I think if you find a marketing company that follows up and gets you results, they can be invaluable. SMS talked a great game to get us to sign the two year contract, but when it got down to actually helping us create and market our brand the way that they told us they would, they fell short. I am sure it has worked for some but it just did not for us. We were left with the impression that they were more concerned with the monthly fee than really making us sucessful. And, like I said in the beginning of this thread, it is not like we did not try.

Steve

02-23-2010, 10:08 AM

With all of this said, does anyone feel it would simply be better to hire a marketing company who's goal is to help you gain more customers, not sell you an 800 service?

Also a marketing company that won't have a 2 year contract but instead a pay as you go agreement?

Leon

02-23-2010, 10:20 PM

I don't know I guess if you are a very big company then yes you should hire one. With me I am a very small I can't see hiring a marketing company. After my meeting with Synergetic I just took what the was shared with me a did my own marketing. I guess you can't beat the word of mouth, door to door game. My vanity number does help people to remmber my company. I think it help if a customer is driving down the street an see the truck/roadside sign. What number will you remember 301 555 3571 or 1888 412 LAWN.

jeffery9076

05-12-2010, 05:06 AM

try a majicjack phone line on your computer your computer has to be on to use it very cheap way for a phone bill works for me.